Ship hulls must be periodically cleaned of bio-fouling to maintain a ship's hydrodynamic and fuel efficiency. Currently, such cleaning is performed using a rotating-brush cleaning system such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,547. This type of cleaning system works well on ship hulls coated with conventional anti-fouling coatings designed to impede or slow the development and growth of bio-fouling.
New state-of-the-art ship hull coatings (commonly called “easy release coatings”) are self-cleaning when a ship is moving at sea. However, it has been discovered that these new coatings are subject to bio-fouling development and growth when a ship is in port for an extended period of a month or longer. Accordingly, even these new easy release coatings require cleaning when a ship is in port. Unfortunately, rotating-brush cleaning systems damage these new easy release coatings.